I'm Moving On
by ATightropeToTheWords
Summary: There's no turning back. He's chosen his path. His fate is sealed. It's time for him to move on. Set during end of the Lightning Thief. Songfic to I'm Moving On, by Rascal Flatts.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I also do not own the lyrics to I'm Moving On, by Rascal Flatts. On with the slightly-emo story! **

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><p><em><strong>I've dealt with my ghosts and I've faced all my demons<strong>_

_**Finally content with a past I regret **_

_**I've found you find strength in your moments of weakness **_

_**For once I'm at peace with myself**_

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><p>I decided to take a final walk around Camp Half-Blood. The place that had been my home for so many years. Throughout so many trials and emotions in my life.<p>

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover had been back for a while now, back from saving the world from a war between the gods.

Foiled my plans. Ruined everything. And even though part of me felt bitter, part of me also felt... Relieved.

It was strange - the mixed feelings. I hated them for surviving their quest, and yet I rejoiced that they had.

It was Annabeth, of course. She was like my little sister. I would have been heartbroken if she had died.

I would have never forgiven myself.

I decided the begin my final walk through Camp Half-Blood, my home, at the place it had all begun. Thalia's Pine.

The night air was brisk, and it felt good. Fresh. It cleared my mind a little. I felt a bit of clarity, or at least peace, within me.

I had chosen my path. I needed to stick with it.

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><p><em><strong>I've been burdened with blame,<strong>_

_**Trapped in the past for too long...**_

_**I'm movin' on**_

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><p>I stopped in front of the tree. It was hard the believe that the simple pine tree before me held the spirit on my once-best friend.<p>

I felt weak. My knees gave out, and I fell to the ground, kneeling in front of the tree.

No, not the tree. In front of Thalia.

"I'm sorry, Thalia," I whispered, "I'm sorry I'm doing this. But I have to. The gods... They're too selfish and greedy. Our own parents... they don't care about us. This is the right thing to do."

Yet, I knew that if Thalia could speak... I knew what she would say. She would tell me I was a fool. She would tell me to keep faith. She would tell me to back out of this.

She couldn't tell me any of that. She would never speak to me again. She was a tree. I needed to accept that. Accept it and move on.

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><p><em><strong>I've lived in this place and I know all the faces <strong>_

_**Each one is different but they're always the same **_

_**They mean me no harm but it's time that I face it **_

_**They'll never allow me to change**_

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><p>After a while, I finally got back up to my feet. "Goodbye forever, old friend," I whispered, reaching out to touch the needles of her tree one last time before turning my back on it, and starting back down the hill to Camp Half-Blood.<p>

Turning my back on her was the hardest thing I had ever done.

My footsteps were silent as I moved through camp. A few campers were still out and about, though most were already at dinner.

Their faces were so familiar. Charles Beckendorf. Silena Beauregard. Will Solace.

Their faces were so different. And yet they all meant the same to me.

Beckendorf's face was hardened and tough, and yet his eyes held warmth and friendship.

_Friendship I had tarnished and thrown away like it meant nothing._

Silena's face was beautiful, of course, and full of youth and happiness.

_Happiness that wouldn't last once she heard what I was about to do._

Will's face was tired, but somehow still bright and cheerful. He believed everything was right again.

_They all believed that._

How wrong they were.

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><p><em><strong>But I never dreamed home would end up where I don't belong...<strong>_

_**I'm movin' on**_

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><p>I turned away from their faces, unable to bear the overwhelming sense of betrayal.<p>

A voice in my mind whispered to me. _'There's still hope, Luke. Tell them what you have done. They will forgive you in time. Anything is better than leaving your friends, your family. Your home.'_

No. Not my home.

It couldn't be my home when I didn't belong here.

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><p><em><strong>I'm movin' on<strong>_

_**At last I can see life has been patiently waiting for me**_

_**And I know there's no guarantees, but I'm not alone**_

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><p>I wasn't the only one who had chosen to join Kronos. I knew there were others. I wasn't alone.<p>

I was through with it. Through with waiting for my chance to live my life. Life has been waiting for me all this time. I was ready to face it and any challenges it held.

There was no guarantee Kronos would win. There was every chance the gods would defeat him and cast him back into Tartarus, and destroy all who had supported and joined him.

But I was sick of playing it safe.

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><p><em><strong>There comes a time in everyone's life <strong>_

_**When all you can see are the years passing by **_

_**And I have made up my mind that those days are gone**_

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><p>I had felt like this for years. Like everyday was the same. The days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, and the months turned into years. I was 18 years old. I wasn't about to sit around any longer.<p>

That time in my life was gone.

I had made up my mind a long time ago: I was moving on, one way or another.

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><p><em><strong>I sold what I could and packed what I couldn't <strong>_

_**Stopped to fill up on my way out of town **_

_**I've loved like I should but lived like I shouldn't **_

_**I had to lose everything to find out**_

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><p>I stopped in front of the my final destination. The Hermes cabin. The place that had been my own personal home within a home, filled with friends and family.<p>

My possessions were all in a sack under my bed. I scooped them up and turned around. I felt tears pricking my eyes.

I blinked hard. I had made up my mind. This was it. This was what I had been waiting for for so long.

Time to move on, Luke. Time to move on.

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><p><em><strong>Maybe forgiveness will find me somewhere down this road...<strong>_

_**I'm movin' on**_

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><p>There was Percy. So young. So naive. So oblivious to the future in store for him.<p>

I was about to betray him. I was about to betray Annabeth. Chiron. Grover.

I was about to betray Thalia.

I looked towards her pine one last time.

_I'm sorry, Thalia. I really, truly am. But you're gone. Because of the gods. I have to move on. For both of our sake. I wish you knew that all these years, I have never stopped loving you. You were my best friend._

_I'm sorry, Thalia._

_But I've moved on._

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><p><em><strong>I'm movin' on <strong>_

_**I'm movin' on...**_

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><p><em><em>**A/N: Review?**

**- Hyper **


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